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Figuring Out Iraq
By Maggie Saylor '07
STAFF WRITER

It's the war that everyone talks about--you can hardly look at a newspaper or watch the evening news without being inundated with stories about Iraq and the "War on Terror." It seems, though, that all of that news coverage fails to provoke any real reaction from the Average American Joe. Or Jane, as the case may be at Sweet Briar.

Does anyone really care about Iraq anymore? Besides those concerned for the safety of friends or relatives over there, I don't think people pay much attention. Another day, another insurgency bombing, or more disputes about the new Iraqi government. Who can keep it all straight? But because we DO have loved ones over there, I think it's only right that we at least make an attempt to sort things out.

Well, September 11th and the attacks on the World Trade Center riled the American government up. We attacked Afghanistan in retaliation because their government was hiding the people responsible. Easy enough to understand.

Iraq's a little bit harder to figure out. Due to the technological advances made during the 20th century, war is different now. Soldiers don't stand up in even little rows and spear each other with bayonets like they did once upon a time. Instead, terrorist groups, whose members look no different from the civilians amongst whom they live, perform suicide bombings an guerilla attacks. This doesn't make it easy to fight an open war. So President Bush decided that the best course of action would be to limit the threat of terrorism by limiting terrorist supporters or those who might engage in terrorist-like attacks.

Enter Saddam. Ah, Saddam, whose face now graces playing cards and novelty toilet papers...Some people in the government thought he might be hiding WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and that Iraq could pose a threat to the US. It was also alleged that Saddam Hussein also had connections to Al-Qaeda. So, President Bush called for an invasion.

That was in March of 2003. By April, Saddam Hussein's government fell, and by May U.S. and Kurdish forces beat the conventional Iraqi forces. Saddam was eventually captured, and Iraq managed to hold free democratic elections and set up an Iraqi government.

Since then, things have gotten very complicated. We no longer fight Iraq's army, and Iraq now has its own freely-elected government. But, the fighting continues. Why?

Iraq is just as divided as the United States. Many people here don't support the war, many do. It is the same among the Iraqis. Instead of voting against the other party, though, insurgents over there carry out suicide bombings and attack military convoys. For them the war is not over.

That's why we're still fighting. The Bush Administration does not feel comfortable leaving Iraq until the situation is stable.

Unfortunately, the violence is getting worse, and the death toll continues to rise. In the last couple of weeks, insurgency attacks have grown and some people think that the conflict might now be turning into a civil war, not simply a war of independence from the previous government. The problem is that it's not easy to figure out who's on what side. The insurgency is mostly Sunni Nationalists, but there are some Shi'a and Communists who oppose the new government, as well.

Basically, the situation's gotten so complex now that no one knows an easy way out. Last week a memo was leaked from former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, demonstrating that before he resigned, even he had realized that the current plan isn’t working. Leaders in the government have lots of solutions, most of which conflict with one another. In the meanwhile, Iraq will remain a focus of U.S. Foreign Policy. Complicated as it may be, we should all keep paying attention.